BharatNet Phase II: All you want to know

New Delhi: Aiming to provide high-speed broadband connectivity in all panchayats by the end of March 2019, the government is all set to launch its second phase of the BharatNet project on Monday.

Here is all you want to know about BharatNet Phase II

• BharatNet Phase II will be launched with an outlay of around Rs 34,000 crore.
• BharatNet Phase I is 90 percent completed. By December 2017 it will be fully completed.
• Under the Phase I, 1 lakh GPs or 3 lakh villages were connected.
• Under the Phase II, the government plans to connect 1.5 lakh panchayats through 10 lakh km of additional optical fibre.
• These states will roll out the project on their own with partial funding from the Central government.
• State-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) will roll out optical fibre in eight states -- Assam, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Jammu and Kashmir and Sikkim, and Power Grid Corporation of India in three states -- Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Odisha.
• Government estimates states that the second or final phase of BharatNet will double the existing optical fibre footprint in the country.
• It will also generate employment of 10 crore mandays during the project rollout.
• Telecom operators like Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Vodafone have evinced interest in providing services under BharatNet
• The government will give a support of Rs 3,600 crore to telecom service operators for rolling out Wi-Fi in villages.
• Under BharatNet Phase II, around 6-7 lakh Wi-Fi hotspots will be added with two-five hotpsots in each panchayat.

With Agency Inputs